“The Nature and Structure of Correlations among Big Five Ratings: The Halo-Α-Β Model”, 2009 (; backlinks):
In light of consistently observed correlations among Big Five ratings, the authors developed and tested a model that combined E. L. Thorndike’s (1920) general evaluative bias (halo) model and J. M. Digman’s (1997) higher order personality factors (α and β) model.
With 4 multitrait-multimethod analyses:
Study 1 revealed moderate convergent validity for α and β across raters, whereas halo was mainly a unique factor for each rater.
In Study 2, the authors showed that the halo factor was highly correlated with a validated measure of evaluative biases in self-ratings.
Study 3 showed that halo is more strongly correlated with self-ratings of self-esteem than self-ratings of the Big Five, which suggests that halo is not a mere rating bias but actually reflects overly positive self-evaluations.
Finally, Study 4 demonstrated that the halo bias in Big 5 ratings is stable over short retest intervals.
Taken together, the results suggest that the halo-α-β model integrates the main findings in structural analyses of Big 5 correlations. Accordingly, halo bias in self-ratings is a reliable and stable bias in individuals’ perceptions of their own attributes.
Implications of the present findings for the assessment of Big 5 personality traits in monomethod studies are discussed.
[Keywords: Big Five, personality structure, higher order factors, evaluative bias, halo]
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